Reports of Practical Oncology and Radiotherapy

Reports of Practical Oncology and Radiotherapy

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Dear Authors,

If you believe that your paper was mistakenly rejected by other leading journals and you do not agree with final decision, the editors of Reports of Practical Oncology and Radiotherapy offer new fast track review. You may submit your manuscript to Reports of Practical Oncology and Radiotherapy together with all prior peer-reviews obtained from the other journal and your rebuttal letter. We guarantee review based decision within 72 hours from the time we will receive your manuscript.

Fast track submission process: Please submit the manuscript with all reviews and rebuttal letter by email to Dr. Michal Masternak (michal.masternak@ucf.edu) for fast review processing. To assure immediate attention the email title must to include: RPOR-fast track- Last Name First Name (of corresponding author).

Summary:

Background Oxidants can act at several stages of malignant transformation. To protect against toxic effects of oxidants and to modulate physiological effects of their action organisms have developed antioxidant defence systems. Plasma total antioxidant
activity (TAS) measures peroxyl-scavenging capacity of the extracellular antioxidant
system.Aim The goal of this pilot study was to evaluate the plasma total antioxidant status in
breast cancer women in relation to lymph node metastases and HER-2/neu expression.
Materials/Methods Newly diagnosed consecutive breast cancer patients (n=26) were recruited before any treatment and matched with controls (n=24) randomly selected from benign
breast disease patients. Cancer progress was established according to lymph node
involvement: No or N+. HER-2/neu was considered as either negative (0 or 1+) or positive (2+ or 3+). The plasma total antioxidant status (TAS) was measured by colorimetric test (RANDOX). HER-2/neu oncogene expression was determined in breast cancer tissue using the immunohistochemical method (Hercep Test).Results The study demonstrated a significant decrease in the mean TAS level (mmol/L)
in the breast cancer group (1.42±0.22) in comparison to the control group (1.56±0.18; P<0.01). The mean TAS concentration was found not to differ significantly between breast cancer subgroups in relation to the progress of the disease. Although the mean TAS concentration was not significantly different in regard to the HER-2/neu expression, there was a tendency observed towards higher TAS in the HER-2/neu negative subgroup (1.46±0.20) than in the HER-2/neu positive one (1.41±0.25).Conclusions The results of the study suggest increased consumption of plasma antioxidants
in response to enhanced oxidants production in breast cancer patients. Changes in TAS level do not seem to correspond with the progress of the malignancy but might be related to HER-2/neu expression.Key words antioxidant status • breast cancer • plasma • cancer progress • HER-2/neu expression